Due to our ever increasing technology, smaller groups of people can create massive harm to us all. Small groups of people can and must also act in unison toward freedom and peace for it to happen. We need to urgently unite around a basic principle that allows every competent adult to define and pursue their happiness in any way they peacefully choose.
The cost of achieving freedom and peace is that we must agree not to forcefully impose our personal moral views on others. We call for the world’s people of conscience to unite and organize the laws of the world around a principle we call the “Live and Let Live Philosophy.”
If you are frustrated and tired of the status quo, politics, and all the chaos we see daily in the media, The Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement is for you.
The Live and Let Live Philosophy contains two sub-parts or principles. The end goal? To separate our own personal morality from the law for the purpose of achieving global peace.
This means you are in charge of your life. You get to define and pursue your own happiness; you get to decide how to live your life on your own terms. You should be solely in charge of your body, all your peacefully acquired property and money, and all your time. Stated simply, you are in charge of you. You own your life! Be an Excellent Human.
That said, the Live and Let Live Movement intentionally seeks to inspire you to be the best version of yourself you can be. We urge you to stop for a moment and reflect on the good and the not so good about your existence on this planet. We challenge you to bring a new and best possible version of yourself to the planet.
Bring that best version, not for us, not for the rest, but for you! You are in charge of your happiness. Own it! You are in charge of your own mind, body, property, and time. Own yourself and everything that implies.
The Live and Let Live Movement seeks to inspire all people to simply be good humans. While we may disagree about some aspects of being a good human, most people have a general idea of the concept. We embrace and promote the aspirational values that will take your life to the next level.
We refer to this effort to inspire others to voluntarily be good humans as, “The Live and Let Live Moral Principle.” To “Be an Excellent Human” means to accept and promote certain aspirational values.
We promote these aspirational values because we seek to optimize human happiness and wellbeing while also reducing all suffering. Indeed, this is the overall goal of the moral principle.
If more people voluntarily adopt these aspirational values, we will improve our chances of achieving global peace.
Let’s challenge ourselves to be happier, healthier, and more ethical people. Let’s also seek to make the lives of those around us less complicated and more fulfilling.
We seek to empower YOU to be in charge of your decisions, actions, and outcomes.
I suspect you already have a sufficient general understanding of what this means. However, as with the 3L Legal Principle, honest disagreement is at the edges. That notwithstanding, there is more agreement than disagreement regarding the general meaning of simply being an excellent human. While being an excellent human certainly requires that a person not aggress against others, it also includes the following aspirational values:
High Character – A person’s character results from their core values and motivations for acting. It is the quality of doing the right thing for the right reasons. Traits like integrity, honesty, loyalty, responsibility, accountability, compassion, empathy, gratitude, fairness, patience, fortitude, and others that promote good behavior encompass this concept. The traditional four virtues present in both ancient philosophy as well as in many of the world’s most successful moral traditions include practical wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance or balance. The 3L Moral Principle specifically promotes these four virtues as part of aspiring to a high degree of moral character. Always striving to improve one’s character and act accordingly is arguably the most basic, comprehensive, and important aspirational value.
A Commitment to Thinking Win/Win – We should always seek ways to align our self-interest with the interests of others to achieve mutually beneficial results. Not only does this approach foster free trade and thereby raise standards of living for both parties, but it also fosters cooperation, mutual benefit, long-term relationships, and a high level of trust. Investing time to genuinely understand another person’s thinking, preferences, and proclivities to determine what constitutes a “win” for another person is a necessary prerequisite to achieving and engaging in a win/win agreement. As such, carefully listening to others is an important skill to be refined to realize this aspirational value.
Open-mindedness – We should always remain willing to consider new or different ideas, opinions, and conclusions from the ones we currently hold. This open-mindedness should be the case for all issues. If we confront a better idea, opinion, or determination, we should not be afraid to modify our current position on any subject. This willingness to change does not mean we ought to be fickle. However, we should recognize that none of us is perfect, and we all currently hold some incorrect views. Remaining open-minded is the best way to learn and improve. There is simply no downside to being open-minded.
Tolerance – We should recognize that people look, speak, celebrate, love, think, act, and even live differently. We should aspire to accept genuinely the peaceful behavior and beliefs of others that differ from our own, even if we do not personally agree with or approve of them. We recognize that all people are imperfect and therefore act imperfectly at times. Let’s resolve, at least legally, to tolerate the rights of others to live, however, they choose so long as they do not violate Rule #1.
Voluntary Kindness Towards Others – We should aspire to be caring, compassionate, generous, and helpful towards others in need even when we are not required to do so, and there is nothing tangible to gain. While we reject forced kindness, we seek to inspire people to voluntarily be kind towards others because it is the right thing to do and for the sake of creating a peaceful world.
Civility Towards Others – We seek to inspire people to maintain a dignified demeanor of friendship, politeness, goodwill, and respect toward others. We reject the idea of harboring unjustified hostility towards others, calling people derogatory names, or being rude. We should set an example for others to emulate. This remains the case even when others act in uncivilized ways. Harboring anger, hostility, and resentment are unproductive and does not foster peace. We can always agree to disagree in a calm and respectful way. Let’s treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves.
A Commitment to Truth, Facts, and Rational Thought – We should be firmly committed to pursuing knowledge about what is objectively true about nature and the universe. This commitment remains the case even if the facts of reality overthrow our current beliefs. We should not cling to beliefs merely to be “right.” Instead, we should pursue the limits of human knowledge wherever it leads.
Building High Levels of Trust with Others – Trust is the foundation upon which all productive human relationships are built. Our best relationships are the ones where we have earned a high level of trust. We should never miss an opportunity to build trust with another person. To build trust, we must first be trustworthy. We should always act in ways that inspire others to believe in our integrity and underlying high character strongly. We should encourage all people to honor their word and do what they promise to produce ever-increasing high levels of trust with others.
Consistent Self-Improvement – We recognize no person is perfect. We all make mistakes, which we should enthusiastically own, accept full responsibility for, and constructively learn from. We should foster and maintain a commitment to excellence in all areas. We each have countless opportunities to improve in all ways. We recognize that learning is a life-long process requiring practice, diligence, and commitment. As part of being an excellent human, the 3LM attempts to inspire all people to frequently bring the best new version of themselves forward and continually work towards self-improvement in all areas of life.
This list of aspirational values is non-exhaustive. These aspirational values, and possibly others, are necessary to achieve the 3LM’s overall goals of achieving global freedom and peace while optimizing human happiness and well-being and decreasing suffering. To minimize the suffering of all sentient beings is an aspirational goal of many in the 3LM.
To properly observe the Live and Let Live Philosophy, and to promote freedom and peace, we must allow others the exact same right to also peacefully live their lives on their own terms. We must let others live even if we disagree with the peaceful choices they make. The cost of achieving peace is letting others do what you also have the right to do; to own and control their own lives. This is especially important when we find their choices to be immoral, unhealthy, unwise, or against their self-interest. We must legally respect the rights of others to peacefully do things we disagree with.
To aggress against another person’s body, property, money, or time is to violate the other person’s right to live their lives. Each competent adult owns their own life and the property they peacefully accumulate.
Therefore, The Live and Let Live Legal Principle prohibits all aggression and can be described with the simple phrase, “Don’t Aggress” As a legal principle of non-aggression, this phrase is not a suggestion. All laws ought to be in harmony with the Live and Let Live Legal Principle such that aggression, whether engaged in by any person, group, organization, corporation, or government, ought to be absolutely outlawed.
To outlaw aggression means to outlaw all initiations of force, all fraud, all coercion, and anything that creates a substantial risk or threat of harm to another person or their property. The Live and Let Live Legal Principle applies to all people equally, even if they form groups, organizations, corporations, or governments. We should never legally tolerate aggression regardless of the source.
In summary, we believe in the phrase, “live and let live” as a way for us to live together peacefully. That phrase, and several others such as, “live the golden rule” describes an underlying principle we refer to as, “The Live and Let Live Philosophy.” The Live and Let Live Philosophy can be divided into a “moral” principle and a “legal” principle.
The Live and Let Live Moral Principle seeks to inspire people to be excellent humans. The people in the Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement agree with and promote the aspirational values described by this moral principle. However, we also recognize, and would defend, the legal rights of people to entirely reject the moral principle so long as they are peaceful.
The Live and Let Live Legal Principle seeks to outlaw all acts of aggression whether engaged in by any person, group, organization, corporation, or government. As such, The Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement supports all laws that outlaw aggression, and opposes all laws that are calculated to achieve other goals. While we energetically advocate for other goals, we must achieve them peacefully and voluntarily rather than imposing our personal morality on others through the law.
In short, to live and let live requires that we each resolve to advocate for our own personal moral goals from outside the law while calibrating the law only to outlaw all acts of aggression from whatever source. There is no other way to achieve either freedom or peace.
The Live and Let Live Philosophy applies to all people equally regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, religiosity or lack thereof, sexual orientation, economic status or any other immutable characteristic. We are all brothers and sisters. We should celebrate our diversity as we celebrate our lives. The path to global peace is clear, let’s simply live and let live!
I believe everyone can agree on the Live and Let Live Philosophy. I also believe people are powerful, especially when they collaborate with passion and purpose. We’ve created something more engaging and exciting than anything before in the history of world movements. At no other time in history have we been so concerned, connected and able to unite in this kind of activity. I invite you personally to learn more and be a part of the Live and Let Live Movement. Here are some examples of applying the 3L Legal Principle.
– Marc J. Victor, Founder
